Light and Shadow
by Shadow of an Echo
Summary: It all started with a message from Akashi, telling the Generation of Miracles to join him for a meeting, and bring a member of their new team with them. The agreement struck up between them will let Kuroko learn what happens when a shadow is bathed in light. Only, how do you choose between the Sun, Moon, and Stars? It's the side kicks that force the Miracles to realize the truth.
1. Second Go

**Light and Shadow**

**Shadow of an Echo**

Summary: It all started with a message from Akashi, telling the Generation of Miracles to join him for a meeting, and bring a member of their new team with them. The agreement struck up between them will let Kuroko learn what happens when a shadow is bathed in light. Only, how do you choose between the Sun, Moon, and Stars?

Rating: M

Warnings: Harem style yaoi relationships, alcohol use, and bad language.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke, and I am making no money off this fic as it was written purely for entertainment.

Pairings that will be included: Main; KagamixKurokoxAomine, KisexMidorima, MurasakibaraxAkashi. Eventually all these will blend together as the story progresses.

The story will also feature: Takao, Himuro, Sakurai, and Kasamatsu; plus the majority of the Seirin team.

**A/N **This is a fic that hit me like a plot bunny driving a steam roller. I couldn't _not_ write it out, and it turned out good enough I thought I would submit it and hopefully entertain a few people. I write polyamorous pairings, especially if there is enough canon material to at least suggest it, but that does not mean my stories are wall to wall smut. I focus on emotion leaving the physical side only one relatively small aspect.

Oh and one more thing, this is the first time I am attempting to use honorifics, I'm doing this because the choice in suffix is a very integral part of their personalities. I hope I get them right.

**Chapter One**

**Second Go**

Hyuuga knew something was changing with their ace and shadow. He could feel it just as surely as he could tell Kiyoshi's knees were hurting him again as they practiced. Kuroko and Kagami were just that much more in sync, the trust in each other unshakable, their clowning around during down time was a bit more affectionate; touches were lingering longer than they had before.

If the cause was what Hyuuga suspected he could honestly say he wasn't exactly shocked. They had the kind of instant connection and intense chemistry that most others only dreamed of. It didn't hurt that the duo was probably the deadliest combination as athletes outside of the Generation of Miracles; not that he doubted Kuroko's inclusion in the famous group, only that Kagami was not part of it, and the other prodigies barely noticed their new teams let alone forged connections deep enough to pull off what Kuroko and Kagami were capable of.

No he bet the only thing that might trump their power now was if the Generation of Miracles reformed the bonds they had at Teiko.

…But that would never happen.

He didn't have further time to ponder on the issue, Riko's voice put an end to that. "All right guys, we're done for the day. Go home and rest up for tomorrow, remember we will be having a late practice to work on stamina." She dismissed, but quickly added on, "Oh and Kiyoshi you'd better be prepared to sit out some of tomorrow's practice, don't think I didn't see you struggling today."

The other members of the teams slid out of sight and into the locker room as the stubborn center argued with their coach. They all knew what would happen anyway; there would be tears and a few cutting remarks, but in the end Kiyoshi would yield to Riko like always. The Seirin coach did know how to take care of her boys, and they all acknowledged that even if there were times her advice was a very bitter pill to swallow.

Didn't stop the others from breathing a sigh of relief when they reached the locker room, the outcome might be predictable, but the argument leading up to it was up in the air.

Kuroko was distracted as he grabbed his fresh clothes by his cellphone clattering to the ground, when he picked it up to check if it was okay he noticed the flashing light indicating he had a message. Hitting the button to play it back a momentary flash of shock crossed his face, before he replaced it with his normal unreadable expression. The only indication he was bracing himself to deal with the information was the tightening of his jaw as he clenched his teeth.

Even that small reaction had Kagami noticing his shadow. "You alright Kuroko?" He attempted to cover his concern with offhanded nonchalance, something Kuroko had long ago learned to recognize.

Instead of answering, Kuroko responded with another question. "Kagami-kun, you're free tonight right?"

"Yeah, but what's going on?" Now Kagami was on high alert, things were taking a turn for the weird.

Kuroko lifted his head to look at Kagami from where he had been staring at his phone like it might bite him, "Akashi-kun wants to see us."

The power forward blinked rapidly at that, but wait he couldn't possibly have heard that right. "What do you mean _us_? If Akashi wanted to see you I'd understand, but why both of us?"

"I don't know," Kuroko admitted. "All he told me is where and when to meet, with the order to bring a member of Seirin with me. You can be sure he knows I will bring you unless it is completely impossible. Makes me wonder if he might be giving similar orders to the others." He pondered, resuming his interrupted activity by stripping off his jersey and grabbing the fresh shirt he had been laying out when he discovered Akashi's message.

"Others? You mean the rest of the Generation of Miracles?" Not a hard guess, he doubted there was anyone else Kuroko would refer to, especially when Akashi was involved.

"He wouldn't pick a neutral place to meet if it wasn't intended for all of us." Kuroko explained his ex-captain's idiosyncrasies. "If there was ever something that required only one of us he would use a place firmly in his territory. He thrives on intimidation."

Kagami pushed the locker closed, finished changing, "So where does he want to meet?"

"There is a convenience store we all used to go to after practice, it has a park about a block away from it that Akashi-kun wants us to meet in." The shadow informed, zipping up his bag; ready to leave.

Kagami slung his bag over a shoulder, "Might as well go see what he wants."

Kuroko only nodded and followed him out of the locker room, just in time for Kiyoshi to see them leave as he entered finally finished arguing with Riko.

"Where are they off to?" He asked incredulously, those two were usually among the last to leave.

"Akashi wants to talk to them," Hyuuga answered, "Both of them. Even Kuroko didn't know why, though he suspects the other Miracles will be there."

"Now that is odd," Kiyoshi noted, coming to sit on the bench to give his sore knees a chance to rest. "At least they are together. I don't like the thought of Kuroko going alone; we have no idea how volatile Akashi could be after the winter cup."

"Kuroko was really tense when he listened to that message, if he is worried, we should be too." Izuki informed. He had noticed Kuroko's reaction almost as quickly as Kagami.

Kiyoshi glanced at Hyuuga, "Do we follow them?"

The Seirin captain deliberated for a moment, "No, we shouldn't. I want to but I doubt Kuroko would like it if we tried to interfere with anything involving Akashi. If he wanted some of us there to back them up, he would have asked." He decided.

Kiyoshi sighed, "Would he? How many times can you honestly remember Kuroko asking for help?"

Hyuuga ran a hand through his hair in irritation, "We are just going to have to trust them. Kuroko has a level head, even if he was in danger he wouldn't risk Kagami too. He has to have some clue what he is doing walking into that mess."

Izuki interjected there, "I agree with Hyuuga. It wouldn't hurt to check on them in a few hours, but it won't go over well if we are caught spying on them."

"Okay, then we wait." Kiyoshi stated his verdict. Those two first years certainly gave them all heart failures on occasions, but so far nothing had put a stop to them. There were stumbles along the way, but every trip and fall brought them back to their feet better than ever.

XxxxxX

It took Kuroko and Kagami nearly an hour to reach the park in question. Arriving in time to see Kuroko's guess that all the Generation of Miracles had been told the same thing turned out to be true. Kise was there, a cranky looking Kasamatsu beside him, the point guard and Captain of Kaijo must be at the end of his rope dealing with Kise's energetic personality after the journey together.

"Kurokocchi!" Kise exclaimed happily, launching himself at the shadow as soon as the Seirin duo was spotted. He glomped Kuroko, hanging onto his shoulders letting his long and lanky frame helping to hold Kuroko in place.

Kuroko's disgruntled protest didn't budge him, but Kasamatsu kicking him sharply, and Kagami pulling Kuroko away from him did the trick. "Awww, I was just excited to see Kurokocchi!" Kise protested, a waterfall of overdramatic tears pouring down his cheeks.

"Can't you greet him without man-handling him?" Kasamatsu scolded, landing another kick on his lower back for good measure.

"Wahhh! That hurt Sempai!" More crocodile tears flowed, causing the three people near him to abruptly turn and start walking away, leaving him behind.

That didn't last long, though this time when he pounced he grabbed Kagami instead nearly knocking the formidable red-head to the ground with the unexpected leap. As Kagami struggled to shake him off, he hollered at Kasamatsu, "How in the Hell do you put up with this guy?" He eventually managed to send Kise onto the ground a moment or two after yelling.

"I don't," Kasamatsu disagreed. "Or did you not see me kick him? Plus he only acts like this off court or during lulls. He does get serious, it's just very, very, rare."

With the compliment Kasamatsu found himself on the receiving end of Kise's exuberance. Kise tackling him from behind. He kicked backwards, throwing in an elbow to the gut for good measure, Kise reluctantly letting go at the violence.

"Tch, Kise you still make a fool out of yourself as much as always." The sardonic comment took everyone by surprise, considering it was said by Aomine who they hadn't noticed arriving. Well everyone but Kuroko, he had a knack for spotting his Lights, even if they were former ones.

"So mean Aominecchi!" Kise objected, but reserved the fake tears, he knew it would only spur Aomine on, and the power forward certainly didn't need any more ammo when it came to Kise.

Aomine ignored him, but turned to Kasamatsu; "You've learned to deal with him. Not bad."

"Practice." Kasamatsu responded drily.

"That's how it works with him," Aomine observed with a shrug, the controlling grasp he had on Sakurai accenting the movement. Looked like even Aomine had found a teammate to bring, though judging by the tremors running through the nervous boy he hadn't been given much choice in the matter.

"Oi, Aomine, what did you have to threaten to get him to come with you!" Kagami shot over to his rival.

Aomine's reply covered the frantic sorrys the shooting guard was chanting. "I didn't threaten anything. Just told him to come and he did. You though, whatcha do to Tetsu that made him bring you?"

"He asked me! No one had to order anyone." Kagami responded dismissively.

Another voice cut into the argument, "Your friends are very noisy Shin-chan."

"They're not my friends," Midorima instantly corrected, "But yes they are very noisy that is never going to change."

"That's mean Midorimacchi!" Kise protested, "Of course we're friends!"

"Maybe on your side," Midorima muttered.

"Oh Shin-chan, you're still nothing but a big Tsundere." Takao teased, Kise shooting the point guard a grin.

"Am not." Midorima refuted, managing to keep his voice steady, probably from all the practice he had.

"Yes you are!" Every single person in attendance responded at once, even the non Generation of Miracles players. It made Midorima look away and adjust his glasses.

"Is there a problem Shintaro?" This next voice made the Generation of Miracles freeze, the people with them reading the action correctly, making them realize Akashi had arrived. He was the only one so far that had not brought an extra person.

Midorima ducked down, not willing to meet the heterochromatic eyes. "There isn't a problem Akashi, just some teasing."

"Mido-chan is blushing," Murasakibara observed absently, he must have come with Akashi, and Himuro was standing placidly next to him.

"He's right, you are blushing Shin-chan!" Takao agreed excitedly, glomping his teammate.

"Takao get off me," Midorima quickly shook him off, but Takao landed on his feet still laughing.

It was Kuroko that addressed Akashi, ignoring the roughhousing around them, "Why did you call us here Akashi-kun?" The question immediately halted all noise.

"I have a preposition for you." Akashi explained. "For those of you here as guests, let me enlighten you about an important agreement that passed between my players and myself." Another group tensing ensued increasing the curiosity of their companions. "You see upon leaving Teiko, unlike what the press speculated, we all made an oath to go to different high schools. We did this in order to test our skills against each other. The only one not involved in the original pact was Tetsuya. I had faith he would join in though, despite it being for different reasons. This splitting up worked better than I had hoped, I gave all of them free reign as to what teams they joined, and I doubt they could have found better match-ups to their skill."

"Where are you going with this Akashi?" Midorima prompted when it looked like his ex-captain was finished explaining the past.

"The need to keep us separated has ended, we have all come against each other, and it was Tetsuya who triumphed." He saw the concerned looks shot his way from their new teammates, making him do something out of character for the Akashi they has heard of; he reassured them. "I am not pulling them out of their current teams, I meant what I said, they are likely in the best places for them. What I am going to ask of you is much simpler. My father has started up a charity to give young players scholarships to universities if they show more than average promise."

Akashi waited for the information to process in their surprised minds before continuing, "He wants us to perform games in a showcase of our skills. We will sell tickets to the games, plus possible merchandise if the idea is popular, and put all profits towards our new charity. We need at least ten players to accurately perform in these games, that would be a reason I asked you to bring one player from each of your teams, preferably the one you thought had the most potential; we need them to play with us."

His plan was met with silence from all in attendance, they needed to think on this.

The first one to break the quiet atmosphere was the other captain in the group, "If we agree to this, where would we play? The majority of us live in Tokyo but you and Murasakibara live pretty far away." Kasamatsu wanted to know the logistics behind the plan before he agreed to anything.

"Good question, as expected from a captain able to harness Ryouta's skill." Akashi approved. "If this plan works, we would rotate the games between each of our respective schools. If we spread out the locations we increase our audience and that means more money for the charity. Oh and if you agreed to join this plan, my father has decided to give each of you a scholarship as well, drawn from our personal funds so that it really will be all profits going to charity."

"Wait, what?" Kagami interrupted, "You can really do that for eleven people?" He was including Akashi in the question, he would be going to school to he suspected.

"Twelve actually." Akashi corrected blandly, eyeing Kuroko's teammate. "There is one more stipulation to the idea. As I am sure you noticed there is an uneven number of people here. This is because we will need to have a backup encase any of us need to sub out. However Tetsuya is at a disadvantage, he already knows he will need to be exchanged during the game; thus I am giving him the right to choose the player he will substitute himself with from his new team."

"Thank you Akashi-kun," Kuroko responded knowing it was expected. "Is there a restriction on who I can pick?"

"The only player you may not bring is the Uncrowned King. The extra you already have is on our level, it will be too much to allow another so close to us." Akashi laid out his rule. "Also when we split off into teams, you may not match up with either Taiga or Daiki from the beginning. You must choose a new Light for your shadow, you may only play with your previous ones during the last five minutes of a game. This is another rule in place to limit the power of Taiga who matches us and throws off the balance."

"If you are attempting to handicap him so much, why allow him to play at all?" If it had been a Generation of Miracles to say that they would be on the receiving end of a death glare and threats, instead it was Himuro.

"Because he is too good not to, and you will have a few restrictions as well." Akashi warned, "I am fully aware of your skill. For you I am going to ask you not to play on the same side as Taiga, or Atsushi. We will spread out the skills of the prodigies evenly between teams."

"I like that plan," Kasamatsu agreed, "But there might be a problem, how do you spread the talent evenly when there are three point guards and only one center in the mix?"

"Simple, we allow two point guards on one side, and balance the other with Tetsuya. His skill will be more than enough to compensate for the imbalance. Also there is only one dedicated center, but five of the Teiko players including myself can play any position if they have to. Some are better than others at them."

"I can too," Kagami admitted. "I don't like it as much, but I can."

"So can I," Himuro added, glancing at his brother.

"You learned with street ball, multitasking is part of that," Shockingly that was Aomine. Though it wasn't really a compliment more an explanation so the others let it slide without comment, just a few speculative looks.

"Um sorry, but I can play center," Sakurai spoke up quietly. "Sorry for interrupting."

Aomine cuffed him on the back of the head, "I warned you about that, quit with the apologizing crap. I picked you didn't I? Did you even bother to listen to Akashi when he said he told us to bring the one we thought had the most potential?"

"Sorry," He ducked with the threatening look Aomine gave him at that, "I just thought I was the only one you could drag along."

"Nope, I went to you first." Aomine revealed.

"Daiki are you done?" Just the barest hint of impatience in Akashi's voice was enough to cow Aomine and he nodded sharply going quiet, "Anyway, what I was trying to say is both sides will get a center as long as certain egos don't get in the way." He gave sharp looks to the power and small forward of Teiko.

"Like you're one to talk," Kagami had to cover his mumbled statement with a cough.

Akashi turned his dual colored stare on Kagami, "What was that Taiga?"

"Nothing," Kagami submitted, not bothering to battle him with using his given name, he wouldn't win.

"That's what I thought." Akashi stated. "So, can I count on you to join in the plan?" He addressed all the gathered players, getting agreements from everyone. "Good, now you will have a little time between now and when Father and I can get the first game scheduled. I recommend using that time to practice with each other. I will join in the sessions when I can." Akashi advised.

Taking that for the dismissal it was, they began to gather themselves up to head home. IT was Kise who suggested otherwise, "Want to go get popsicles for old times' sake?"

As the others began to protest and Kise pouted, Kuroko spoke up, "I like the idea."

If there was ever any doubt who had control over the Generation of Miracles, it was gone now, as they fell silent and followed Kuroko like a line of very tall ducks. A quiet smattering of chuckles came from the teammates they brought. It was incredibly amusing to see all the people possessing such incredible egos yielding to the small form of Kuroko.

"Do they even realize they are doing that?" Kasamatsu asked quietly.

"Probably not," Takao agreed, "Besides even if Shin-chan noticed he wouldn't admit it."

Kagami grunted, "I'm not sure I like it. They really hurt Kuroko, and now they are acting all buddy, buddy."

"But didn't he do it for them? To bring them back?" When they all turned to Sakurai he drew in on himself, "Sorry!"

"Geez, Aomine was right. Stop that, we aren't going to get mad just because you said something." Kagami attempted to get through to him, but didn't hold out much hope.

"Plus you do have a point," Takao assured. "Kuroko wouldn't have worked so hard to wake them up if he didn't want to get close to them again."

"Still don't like it," Kagami responded stubbornly.

Takao's gaze was suddenly predatory, "Oh, wow, is someone jealous?" He asked slyly.

"Jealous of what?" Kagami demanded.

The look changed to amusement, "The amount of attention Kuroko pays to his old team."

"Oh shut up, like you're one to tease, aren't you always following Midorima around like a puppy?" Kagami got his own dig in.

"So what? I don't deny it, someone has to keep an eye on him. At least I'm honest about it." Takao brushed off.

"He's got a point Taiga," Himuro added, not able to resist teasing his brother. "You do seem awfully defensive about this."

"_Not you too Tatsuya!" _Kagami protested in English, unconsciously switching when confronting Himuro.

"You're being impolite Taiga, there are others around us." Himuro pointed out calmly, enjoying this immensely.

"_I can speak English." _Kasamatsu informed, surprising both of them. He was pretty good for a non-native speaker.

Sakurai was next, _"I am not very good." _His accent was a lot thicker than Kasamatsu's but altogether not too horrible. They could understand him anyway.

"I can understand, but I'm horrible at pronouncing English, I'm better at writing it." Takao admitted, not bothering to try pronouncing English words.

"Hey guys, we're here." Kagami noticed as the convenience store came into view, the others standing around it minus Kise and Murasakibara.

"What kept you?" Aomine questioned suspiciously.

"Nothing, we were just talking." Takao brushed off, "So tell us, what was it like coming here when you guys were in Teiko?"

Kuroko answered him, "It was a lot like this. We would come here after practice to calm ourselves down before going home." If he was going to say anything further he was interrupted by Aomine slinging an arm around his shoulders.

"Just like back then." He stated grandly, a challenging look passing between him and Kagami like an electric charge. Himuro needed to cover up his laugh at that. No doubt about it Kagami was jealous of the Generation's closeness with Kuroko. Though it also looked like the opposite was true.

"Stop that!" Kagami protested. "Get off him!"

"Oh, why don't you come over here and make me!" Aomine rose to the challenge, ready to face off against Kuroko's new light.

"Do you two always have to fight?" Kuroko asked mildly, pulling out from under Aomine's arm as Kise and Murasakibara exited the store with treats for everyone. "If you are that willing to go for each other's throats don't involve me."

"Ah Kurokocchi," Kise started carefully controlling his hyperness, "I think they fight _because_ you are involved."

Kuroko sighed, glancing at Kise, "I know." He stated simply, bringing the two sizing up males out of their grudge match.

"What are you talking about Kuroko," Kagami protested first, "It's not like that!"

"Damn it Tetsu, that isn't right." Aomine was quick to join in their defense.

"Kuro-chin they are doing it again." Murasakibara noted. "Too much alike." He was munching his way through a plastic bag of snacks he had bought inside the store.

"Whatcha say Shin-chan, lock them in a closet together?" Takao proposed.

Midorima adjusted his glasses, "If only that would work."

"I can think of worse," Himuro assured, "Put them on the same team when we face off. After all Akashi already restricted the amount of time they could play with Kuroko anyway. Why don't we make it a little easier on them and remove the temptation?"

Kagami's jaw dropped and Aomine's eyes widened in horror as the others started laughing at the suggestion. "You know that might not be such a bad idea," Kise mused, popsicle in his hand after handing out the rest to the others.

"I agreed, but any ideas on how the rest of the teams should be broken down?" Kasamatsu was actually enjoying the teasing, even if he was quiet about it, but he still wanted to get the serious business out of the way.

"Akashi already said I am not permitted to play with either Atsushi or Taiga, I guess that means they need to be on the same side and me on the opposite," Himuro decided.

"If we really are going to put Aomine and Kagami on the same side, we should put Akashi, Kuroko, and probably Kise on the other side. You two have too much firepower." Midorima analyzed, proving why he had been Akashi's second in command at Teiko.

"Alright, so if we have one team with Himuro, Akashi, Kise, and Kuroko; who is their fifth?" Takao asked.

Kuroko was the one to answer, "We need someone who is not part of the Generation of Miracles. I'd like to work with Sakurai-kun. Takao-kun, and Kasamatsu-san, I apologize but Akashi is a point guard, he won't like giving up the spot."

"Not bad," Kasamatsu agreed, understanding Kuroko's point about not challenging Akashi for his position. "But who are you going to bring as your substitute?"

"Izuki-sempai." Kuroko revealed. "While a point guard can't take the place of Akashi-kun, if I am out of the game he would be the best fit to coordinate with everyone else in a similar way as I do."

"Sounds good," Kagami had gotten over his distress at getting placed with Aomine, as he could tell it wasn't something either of them wanted. "That means the other team will be me, Aomine, Midorima, Murasakibara, Takao and Kasamatsu."

"One of us will have to be a substitute," Midorima reminded.

Takao spoke first, "Let Kasamatsu play, I'll be the sub. You'll need me if you're facing off against Izuki's eagle eye _and_ Akashi's emperor eye; other than that he is better than me." His hawk eye was a useful skill, but Kuroko knew how to counter it now. Better to let the more experienced point guard tackle the first line up. He could be put to better use when Kuroko was subbed out.

"Are you sure?" The Kaijo player asked seriously.

Shutoku's point guard responded in kind, "Absolutely. I'm a specialist, you are not. Kuroko can negate what makes me good. It makes sense to put you in first while playing him, as you are a more experienced match for everyone else on the team."

"He's right." Again Aomine shocked everyone. "I've played you, and it took guts to face me down like you did. If you can keep that up, I'm willing to have you on our side. Even if we are going against Akashi, you can't be intimidated by him or he'll take you down."

Kasamatsu nodded, "If that's what you want."

He should have expected it, he really should have, but he relaxed a little too much. When Kise smashed into his side he nearly toppled over. "Kasamatsucchi, Aominecchi likes you! He doesn't even say that kind of stuff about me!"

The Kaijo ace was once again hit from both sides as Kasamatsu elbowed him sharply, and Aomine cuffed the side of his head a bit harder than what he had done to Sakurai earlier. Kise let go with a wheeze and pout after the punishment.

"You really should learn to control yourself a bit more Kise-kun," Kuroko advised his teammate while the golden haired player worked on catching his breath.

"But it wouldn't be as fun!" He protested breathlessly, a shining smile on his face.

"No coming to us crying if you get a broken rib someday," Aomine warned darkly.

Now it was Kasamatsu's turn to defend himself. "I don't hit him that hard, he's just a drama queen."

Aomine laughed, "Definitely want you on our team. The only other people capable of reining in Kise are Akashi and Tetsu."

"Wait, if he can rein him in, how come Kise is always jumping all over Kuroko?" Kagami interrupted with a glare thrown at both opposing aces.

"Mainly cause Tetsu lets him up to a certain point." Aomine answered with a shrug, and a hidden grin from Kuroko at Kagami's shock. "He only dislikes it when Kise starts pressing too hard. He is too heavy for Tetsu."

Kagami let out an irritated growl at Kise's smug look and Aomine's amusement. He was beginning to regret ever agreeing to come with Kuroko. Too late now though, he would feel like a colossal jerk if he backed out of a charity showcase just because of a little teasing.

"Kuro-chin, you look happy." Murasakibara stopped munching long enough to notice before going right back to the box of Pocky he was devouring.

"I am Murasakibara-kun, everyone is going to be playing together again. It will be nice for us to do that." Kuroko admitted.

He had only started to heal the Generation of Miracles, he had a feeling this showcase was going to draw out the brightness of all his lights. Because the one thing only Akashi was aware of, besides himself, was that he considered all of the Teiko regulars his lights. Aomine was just the brightest one at the time. He had a suspicion the stipulation about not playing with either Aomine or Kagami was to show this to the others.


	2. I Run to You

**Light and Shadow**

**Shadow of an Echo**

**A/N **I'd like to thank everyone for giving this story a chance. I hope you continue to enjoy it!

**Chapter Two**

**I Run to You**

"So let me get this straight," Hyuuga stated incredulously. "You two have agreed to help with a project that will eat up a lot of your free time, time we could be using to practice, and in this project you will be working closely with all the teams we are likely to face in the future giving them insight into our moves that they may not have had before. Did I miss anything?" This was almost too much to believe.

"Only that we want Izuki-senpai to come with us," Kuroko added, not quite as afraid of his Captain as he was the coach, and neither of them had managed to even come close to Akashi's level of fear inducement.

Hyuuga glared at both Kuroko and Kagami, "What could have possibly possessed you two to go along with this?" He demanded.

Kuroko shrugged, "It sounded like a good idea. Akashi-kun would not lie about something dealing with his team, there really is a charity involved, and it sounds like one we should be supporting."

In that moment Kagami realized just how much he respected Kuroko's ability to hold up under interrogation. Then again, he had met Akashi and had a pretty good idea what had built up Kuroko's resistance.

"Junpei calm down," Kiyoshi interrupted, "I agree with Kuroko, they were right to join in this cause. We should be supporting them too." He advised. "Besides, we have already played all the teams involved, some of them more than once, there isn't much they don't already know about us and Kuroko in particular. We just might learn something from them though."

"And just how do you suggest we support them?" He demanded, "They already have three of our strongest players involved."

"Give Kuroko, Kagami, and Izuki the time they will need to practice with their new teams." Kiyoshi explained like he had been planning it all along. "We might even want to invite them to use our gym for group practice. Wouldn't you agree that if this is going to happen, and it will I have no doubts about that, we should learn as much as we can in the process? You have to admit that the Generation of Miracles could definitely teach us a thing or two, even if it is unintentional."

Riko broke in between the boys, "Teppei is right," She directed that at Hyuuga. "I'd rather have them here where we can keep an eye on them."

"Will the other teams agree to it though?" Hyuuga was defeated and he knew it.

Kagami snorted, "Captain, if Kuroko asks them they will do it. You weren't there last night, it was really hilarious to see them trailing Kuroko around like puppies."

"They weren't that bad," Kuroko objected.

More laughter, "Oh yes they were." Now that his initial anger, read jealousy, had been tamped down a bit he found the humor in the situation.

"Kagami," Hyuuga warned making their ace go quiet. "No matter what last night was like, you would still be the best choice to approach them Kuroko. They know you better. Will you ask them?"

Kuroko sighed, "All I can do is ask, I can't guarantee anything."

"We don't expect you to," Kiyoshi assured. "In the end it will be up to them."

"If they do agree to practice here, what does that mean for us?" Koganei was worried it would turn into nothing but training with the Miracles.

Riko responded first, "We play with them. They are going to need opponents, and what better training can we get? Although Izuki you are going to have to work the hardest. You are improving steadily but I bet they are expecting the best from us." She analyzed.

"I can do that," Izuki agreed, "But I have a question for you Kuroko." That got their shadow's attention, "Why did you choose me? Wouldn't Kiyoshi be the better choice if you are facing off with the Generation of Miracles?" The duo had only told them the basics of the plan, not the reasoning behind placements.

"Don't sell yourself short Senpai," Kuroko reminded calmly. "Akashi did give an order that I was not allowed to bring the Uncrowned King, but I had already made my choice before he said that. You're skills are more like my own, and for my substitute I wanted someone who could coordinate well with the others. Also Akashi will be interested in testing the limits of your Eagle eye, and Takao's hawk eye too. He likes exploring new types of talent." There was also his concern about Kiyoshi's physical wellbeing. He always put his heart and soul into every game, he would be tempted to give too much of himself and injure his knees even further. No one wanted that, it was hard enough to watch him handle as much pain as he was already in.

Izuki nodded in acceptance, "As long as you're sure, than I have no problem playing in the showcase."

"Thank you Izuki-senpai," Kuroko responded gratefully.

The pun loving point guard smiled, "It actually sounds like fun." He confessed.

"You would think that way," Hyuuga muttered, "Most sane people would at least be a little nervous playing with the entire Generation of Miracles in the same game."

"Whoever said I was sane?" Izuki asked in mock surprise, teasing his old friend. "Kuroko and Kagami are fired up about this, why wouldn't I be the same way?"

"When you get trounced I'll remind you about saying that." Hyuuga warned in a very serious voice.

"What I want to know," Riko interrupted the teasing match going on between Izuki and Hyuuga, "Is who decided it would be a good idea to have Kagami and Aomine on the same side?"

Kagami had a very dark look on his face at hearing the question, while Kuroko had an expression that was surprisingly close to a smile, "It was Himuro-kun." Kuroko informed.

"He always did enjoy torturing me," Kagami mused, the dark look not receding in the slightest.

"I don't think it will be torture," Kuroko refuted, "Aomine-kun and Kagami-kun will probably learn to enjoy it."

"Probably?!" Kagami was not too happy with his shadow right then.

"Probably." Kuroko repeated himself. "Whether or not you do will depend on how well you can control your egos."

"Oi, I can control myself better than that bastard!" Kagami objected with vitriol, unconsciously proving he didn't have much control at all if Kuroko could bait him so easily.

"Prove it," Hyuuga challenged, deciding if everyone else was getting invested in the idea he would not be left behind. "You want to beat him? Be the bigger man and start working with him without protesting. See if he responds the same way."

"I doubt it," Kagami disagreed.

"Now you're just being stubborn," Hyuuga realized with a shake of his head.

Kiyoshi laughed, "You expected something different? From what I've seen the both of them are hotheads. They probably will work well together if they don't manage to kill each other first." He analyzed. He was one of the few who didn't think it was crazy to put them together, it would improve them both, though it was in different ways. That Himuro definitely knew his brother, and he must be good at reading people to realize Aomine was essentially exactly the same way.

"Can we just get to practice?" Kagami wanted this subject to drop, and quickly, the less he thought about his impending partnership with Aomine the better.

Riko blew her whistle, getting them started with their usual training amidst many hidden and not so hidden chuckles.

If Kuroko's passes were a little stronger, and Kagami's temper a little shorter during their mock game, no one was suicidal enough to comment; they were more than willing to enjoy the show though.

It was during a water break that they noticed something very, very, scary. Riko was skipping, and not just a little bit. As one synchronized unit every player gulped. That particular action from her always spelt trouble, or at least forecasting emanate pain by means of training partners.

"Do I want to know?" Was all Hyuuga asked.

"Probably not," Riko admitted with a near blinding smile.

Kiyoshi figured it out first, "Okay Riko, which team did you invite?"

She smirked, "You'll just have to wait until they get here. I want it to be a surprise."

With several suspicious glances sent her way, they cautiously returned to practice, all wondering who the mystery guest would be. They weren't even sure it would be that day, but it didn't matter, sooner or later they would be facing a Miracle again.

During a lull Kagami had to admit something he never thought he would, "You know I kind of hope it's Kise, I don't want to deal with Aomine, and Midorima is almost as bad."

"Next time I see him I'll have to tell Kise-kun that you prefer playing with him," Kuroko teased with his straightforward voice.

"If he stops hanging off of you long enough for you to say anything more than orders to get off," Kagami teased right back.

For some reason, Kuroko felt compelled to defend his teammate, "He doesn't do it all the time. He is just a little overly affectionate sometimes, it's just part of who he is. You get used to it after a while."

Kagami's eyes widened in realization, "Aomine was right, you do let him get away with it!" He accused.

"I was his mentor at Teiko," Kuroko admitted, surprising a couple people. "He liked challenging Aomine-kun, but he felt closer to me. I understood him to a point, I held just as much affection towards Aomine-kun and Akashi-kun for giving me a chance. I never quite had the heart to deny Kise-kun completely. The others have the same problem refusing him completely including Midorima-kun. The only exception to his exuberance was Aomine-kun. Kise-kun never had the urge to glomp Aomine-kun like he does the rest of us, he was Kise-kun's idol."

"Tch, he was still annoying though, at least he was good enough to be entertaining when we played." Aomine was there, standing in the entrance to the gym, Sakurai standing in his shadow. They had been there long enough Aomine heard the majority of the conversation about Kise.

"Coach, what the hell, you invited them!" Kagami turned around to voice his displeasure to Riko.

She just laughed, "You'll need the most practice getting used to them, consider it a favor Kagami. At least you can attempt it without all of the others present." She pointed out, reminding him if their initial training was an epic failure the only ones that would be aware of it was the Touou players and Seirin, the Miracles wouldn't be involved yet; or worse his brother who would never let him live it down.

"I didn't come here for that," Aomine immediately refuted. "I came for Tetsu. I wanted to show Bakagami here what he can do with a brighter light." The challenge came through loud and clear, making Kagami start to square off with him until a very large hand came down on his shoulder.

"I wouldn't mind seeing you work with Kuroko," Kiyoshi admitted pleasantly. "I bet it is something worth seeing."

"Whatdya say Tetsu, give them a show?" Aomine invited his shadow, striding into the gym, leaving Sakurai to stand unsurely in the doorway.

Riko realized the problem, "Sakurai-kun get over here, I doubt you want to miss this."

Touou's shooting guard half-ran over to the gathered Seirin players in order to follow the command. His apologies were at least a lot quieter than normal, they assumed the cause was a threat or several from Aomine.

"Aomine-kun, we need at least one more person playing with us, and there should be an opponent." Kuroko pointed out, coming to stand next to his first light.

"You already chose a person to sub for you, we'll bring him to play with us. I don't really care about the opponent."

"Three on three?" Kuroko offered.

Aomine shrugged, "Why not?"

Kagami started forward immediately, followed a bit slower by Hyuuga and Kiyoshi. Too bad Riko had a problem with that line-up, "I don't think so Teppei, I warned you yesterday I wasn't going to let you on the court for the whole practice. Let Mitobe or Koganei play."

Kiyoshi gritted his teeth but, not wanting to make a scene in front of their guests, he acquiesced to her order without argument. While he returned to the sidelines with the others Mitobe and Koganei shared a look, Mitobe nodding and taking Kiyoshi's place.

By the time Mitobe positioned himself on the court, Izuki had joined Aomine and Kuroko. "Try to keep up," Aomine ordered the Seirin regulars and what followed was one of the most brutal games they had ever witnessed. No one resorted to the dirty tactics of Kirisaki Dai Ichi, no this was raw talent condensed into a show piece.

The watching crowd was treated to the sight of Teiko's original light and shadow prove exactly why that team was especially deadly. With Izuki's eagle eye helping him position himself, Kuroko and Aomine settled into a high speed rhythm of passing and scoring, cutting through Kagami's team like butter.

"I've never seen Aomine play like that," Sakurai admitted. "The closest was during the Kaijo game in the Inter-high."

"Hmm, maybe he does recognize their connections from Teiko," Riko hypothesized. "If he gets the most enjoyment out of Kise-kun and Kuroko-kun it would make sense, from what Kuroko-kun has told us he played with them the most."

Kiyoshi spoke up, still a little irritated he was benched but he did understand, "As much as he tries to hide it, I can tell he actually has a heart. He is still human, of course he would recognize the people closest to him, he was just a little lost for a while." The proof behind Kiyoshi's observation was the small smile on Aomine's face as he received a pass from Kuroko and scored against Kagami.

They fell silent again, watching the perfect harmonization between Aomine and Kuroko for the first time. They now had a new understanding of what drew Kuroko to Kagami when they arrived at Seirin. It was hard to call which duo would actually perform better. The styles might be different, but their attitude was exactly the same now that Kuroko had forcibly dragged Aomine out of his depression.

The game ended with Kuroko's side winning, though it wasn't as wide a gap as Aomine's earlier boasting suggested. He was forced to give Kagami a bit more respect, though he did it grudgingly. Maybe they could work out some arrangement to make the whole teammate thing successful. Maybe.

The players returned to the bench, Izuki, Hyuuga, and Mitobe collapsing next to their teammates. It had taken everything they had to keep up with Kuroko, Aomine, and Kagami.

They were given time to gulp water and regulate their breathing before anything was said.

"Not bad, something to work with anyway," Aomine commented with an arm slung around Kuroko's shoulders, a position the others realized was his natural pose with Kuroko.

Kagami was not about to be left behind, his arm adding to Aomine's from the other side. "I don't think you have the right to talk down to us anymore. We've already proven we can beat you," He reminded, enjoying seen the anger growing in Aomine's stance.

"You beat me once, and only once," Aomine argued, "A large part of that was luck and Tetsu."

"You just summed up all of our games, we never underestimate Kuroko's involvement," Kagami countered dismissively. "And almost all basketball games involve luck. Midorima takes that to extreme, but even you have to admit it's a part of the game."

They were interrupted out of their verbal spar when Kuroko shook both of them off, "What did I tell you about involving me in your arguments?" He reprimanded. "There had to be something else you can talk about."

Kagami and Aomine glared at each other for a few moments, then forced themselves to look away; going silent in response to Kuroko.

Heads turned towards Kiyoshi when he broke out into laughter, "Kagami you were so eager to laugh at the Miracles reaction to Kuroko but you're doing it too, right now." He observed, taking a lot of effort to stifle his chuckling.

"Just what were you saying about us Bakagami?" Aomine asked angrily, with Kagami stubbornly refusing to answer.

Turns out he didn't have to, Hyuuga answered for him, hey it was Kagami and Kuroko's fault the Touou ace was here at all. Might as well get some payback in, "He compared the Generation of Miracles to a bunch of puppies."

"You what!?" Aomine protested, "Where the hell did that come from?"

"You don't see yourselves when you're around Kuroko," Kagami defended himself now that the cat was out of the bag.

Aomine huffed, "So what if we are close to him? He was our shadow first. If it wasn't for Akashi and I Tetsu wouldn't be here."

Seeing the opportunity to hopefully quell some of the animosity, Riko jumped on the chance. "Kuroko-kun said something similar earlier. What do you two mean by that?"

Aomine spared her a glance before refocusing on Kuroko, "It's exactly what it sounds like. I found Tetsu staying late every day after practice to keep pushing himself harder. I started talking to him when I saw his resolve, that's how we made friends and what prompted me to introduce him to Akashi. It didn't take Akashi a full hour to realize Tetsu had talent in a different way than the rest of us. As far as I know Tetsu is the only one of us to be completely mentored and trained by Akashi."

"Why the special treatment?" Hyuuga asked with a mix of curiosity at the situation and anger that a captain would show favoritism.

"Akashi-kun was the only one who had a good idea how to train me." Kuroko admitted. "The rest of the Miracles were paired together to train in the beginning. Akashi was my only option until I got good enough to be some use in games. Aomine-kun was the one to help me complete misdirection though, but we had to do it while playing in a game."

"And learning something for yourself doesn't count as training. We gave him the opportunity, it was up to him to finish it." Aomine didn't want any of Kuroko's achievements to go overlooked.

Kuroko had heard the anger in his current captain's voice. "Akashi-kun was different back then. He wasn't picking favorites, he paired us off in the best match-ups to let our power grow. It just ended up that he was my match up."

Now that sparked Kiyoshi's interest, "If it was you and Akashi, how were the others paired off?"

"He put Midorima with Murasakibara," Aomine started to respond first. "I was originally paired with Haizaki, but that switched to Kise when he joined."

"Ah now I understand," Kiyoshi observed. "Midorima's shooting skills were built because he needed to get past Murasakibara's defense; a high arcing shot from a distance would be a good way of doing that. I'm guessing Kise was put with you so he could catch up quickly since he joined late."

Kuroko nodded, "You're right. Then when we would have mock games we would all have to bring our talents together, it was usually matches of three on three, with the members of the training pairs going to opposite sides."

"During games Tetsu and I were always on the same side, we had to be if we wanted a chance to get passed Akashi." Aomine added, and his mischievous smile shocked the watchers as he turned to look at Kuroko, "The first time I had to catch one of his Ignite passes I thought he would break my hand."

Kiyoshi laughed, "I know the feeling, my hand was sore for a few days after the first time I caught one."

"The rest of us can catch one, maybe two, in the course of a game. It's only Kagami and Kiyoshi that can catch more, but Kagami lasts the longest." Izuki informed, wondering how Aomine would react to the knowledge.

"It used to be only the Teiko regulars that could do it, that your team can catch it is actually pretty surprising," Aomine grudgingly admitted.

Kagami was about to go for Aomine's throat when Kuroko held him back with a tight grip on his jersey, "Kagami-kun don't start. That was actually a compliment from Aomine-kun."

Kagami glared at his shadow, "What do you mean compliment?" He demanded.

Kuroko sighed at his stubbornness, what is it about his lights that they must be so incredibly pig headed? "Kagami-kun how often have you heard Aomine-kun actually acknowledge another team's skill?"

"He never does," Sakurai spoke up, reminding the others he was there and earning a glare from Aomine that had him ducking and nearly burst with the effort of holding back his apologies.

"Of course the one thing you manage to say would be about me," Aomine responded with a shake of his head. "I brought you so you could learn something and maybe play a little, didn't bring you so you could hide away like a mushroom."

At Sakurai's crestfallen look Riko stepped in, "Sakurai kun, want to play in the next game? We should have those two oafs at least try to coordinate, it would be good to have you on the other side." She offered.

"H-h-Hai," Sakurai stuttered his agreement. All of them were forced to ignore the death glare shared between Kagami and Aomine at hearing Riko's suggestion.

"Who wants to be the sacrificial lamb and be on Aomine and Kagami's side?" Riko asked with just enough seriousness her team sweat-dropped.

"They'd probably kill each other if we put in Kuroko, so I'll go." Hyuuga stepped up, a dark cloud going over the others like he had just announced he was dying.

"Riko, I want to play in this game, put me with Kuroko and Sakurai," Kiyoshi practically begged. "I've rested long enough and it's just practice, I'll be fine."

She looked at his pleading gaze and caved, "Oh fine, but if I see you struggling one little bit Kiyoshi Teppei, I will pull you out faster than you can say substitution." Riko warned.

"Thanks Riko!" He treated her to a blinding smile she could only shake her head at.

"Well what are you waiting for? Get on the court!" She ordered, blowing her whistle.

Scrambling to obey, the boys raced out to the center of the court, Izuki coming to stand by Riko, "You know, I think Hyuuga is in more danger than Kiyoshi. Kagami and Aomine will not be at full power if they are concentrating on each other more than their opponent, Hyuuga will have to keep up with that."

"I know," Riko admitted, "I wouldn't have sent him out otherwise no matter how much he begged."

"So what do you think? Are you going to try and coach all of them, or let things be?" Izuki inquired, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

She huffed, "With that much talent? I'm not sure I can resist." Riko confessed. "You've seen how much Kagami has grown since he started, the others were already blooming long before he did. The sheer amount of power would be interesting to work with."

"I thought so," Izuki revealed, "I think they would benefit from you, we train differently than they are used to it will be good for them to change it up."

"It works the other way too," She cautioned. "We could learn a lot from their methods as well. There is going to be at least two other coaches involved in this from Kaijo and Rakuzan; you've seen how good their teams are. Plus Akashi is the one who formed the Generation of Miracles he must have some insight on the best way to motivate them."

"Yes, but didn't that just cause the Miracles more harm than good?" Kuroko had been spending the last year desperately trying to wake up his old teammates; it was Akashi's leadership that meant he had to do it in the first place.

Riko slumped a bit, "I know, but hopefully now they recognize the trap they fell into and can keep it from happening again. They owe Kuroko that much. Plus with Kasamatsu and I involved we can possibly curb Akashi's more outlandish ideas."

"True," Izuki agreed, before refocusing on the barely begun game in front of them.

Kiyoshi had grabbed the tip off, Aomine's charge forcing him to immediately pass to Kuroko, the shadow redirecting it to Sakurai only to have the ball stolen by Kagami.

They raced across the court, and Kagami leapt for a dunk, Kiyoshi grabbing the rebound faking a pass and making a shot.

Aomine captured the ball, using his speed and agility to avoid Kiyoshi and Sakurai heading towards the other basket, hoping to outrun the Ironheart. Too bad Kiyoshi had been kidding when he said he had rested enough, catching up to Aomine, with Sakurai and Kuroko pressuring him from the side.

He probably could have taken a shot, but the rebound would go to Kiyoshi he knew it, so with a growl of annoyance Aomine Daiki passed the ball. Kagami caught it, slamming it into the hoop to give Aomine time to get under the basket and start returning to the other side.

Sakurai attempted to block him, having realized what was happening at the other hoop and running to get in position first.

Aomine dodged him, only to have Kuroko come up behind him using Sakurai's attempted block as cover to steal the ball. Sakurai grabbed the ball, set himself up, and made a three pointer. Kiyoshi grabbing the rebound and passing right back, only Hyuuga had predicted the move, intercepting the ball and making his own three point shot. Kagami took the rebound, made a fake towards the hoop to cover the pass to Aomine who ran and dunked it into the other hoop quicker than their opponents could react.

The game continued with a face paced back and forth run across the court. The animosity between Aomine and Kagami driving them to outdo each other, which included passing at the right time to stop a block or steal. Hyuuga and Sakurai were scoring almost as many points as the aces simply because they were left unguarded so the opponent could put pressure on the stars.

Riko called the match when Kagami's side was four points up, both Kiyoshi and Kuroko were to the point of not being able to keep up anymore. Time to quit before there was an injury.

"Hey Bakagami, I think we agree I should be power forward on our side, you can take small forward." He baited, waiting for the explosion.

He wasn't disappointed, "Like hell, I'm the lead!" Kagami protested.

"Who has more experience? That would be me," Aomine pointed out, hiding his smile at Kagami's predictability.

"Why does that matter?!" Kagami raged, "Besides I played basketball the whole time I was in America."

Aomine looked like the cat that caught the canary, "Pity, to think all that time was a waste."

Kagami was in the process of lunging when Riko's elbow came down on his back, doing the job of stopping him for Kuroko. "Why don't you play each other for it? A little game of one on one before a match, whoever wins leads that game." Riko advised. It would be both a good warm up, and a way of solving the fight.

"I think you should do that," Kuroko agreed with Riko. "You want to fight? Do it on the court."

"Well what do you say Ahomine, want to fight for it?" Kagami challenged.

"Bring it on," Aomine accepted the challenge, a smile playing on his lips. It had been a very long time since he had a rival worth playing. With Akashi's idea he would be able to play Kagami, and Kise, as much as his basketball laden heart could take.

Aomine's smile was not as surprising as Kuroko's. "I can't wait to watch." He stated simply. It would be very interesting to see his lights came against each other; though nothing compared to watching the two of them playing together. He had nearly missed a pass or two while observing them in the mock game and that was only going to get worse as Kagami and Aomine grew more in sync.

Kiyoshi bumped his shoulder against Kuroko's, and spoke in a stage whisper, "Are you sure you want to encourage them like that?"

He was the only one to see Kuroko's expression change to one of excitement, "Oh definitely."

"So you want to see them rip each other apart?" There was quite a bit of shock in his voice.

"No, just want them to settle their arguments without using me as the rope in a tug-of-war." Kuroko explained, both his lights breaking their glare at each other to look at Kuroko with betrayal in their eyes.

"Oi, Kuroko we're not that bad," Kagami protested.

"What's the meaning of that Tetsu?" Aomine demanded at the same time.

The rest of Seirin was either fighting back chuckles or outright laughing at that, Kiyoshi the loudest. He left Kuroko's side to grab up a very irritated Kagami and Aomine, leaning all his weight across their shoulders. "You do know you just proved his point right? You two really are very much alike."

"Not on your life," Aomine disagreed, attempting and failing to shake off Kiyoshi.

Kagami was also failing to dislodge his senior, he had an even tighter grip than Kise, "I'm not anything like him!"

Kuroko once again betrayed them, "Yes you are Kagami-kun, Aomine-kun."

The aces' protests fell on deaf ears after that, all the others laughing at them.


	3. Courtesy Call

**Light and Shadow**

**Shadow of an Echo**

**Chapter Three**

**Courtesy Call**

Kuroko watched with amusement concealed behind the cover of the book he was pretending to read as their teacher reprimanded Kagami yet again for falling asleep during class. He and Aomine had spent hours last night playing against each other, even long after Seirin's practice was done they found a street ball court and kept at it. He didn't doubt his first Light was passed out on his favorite roof top with Momoi screaming at him just like Kagami probably wished he could be doing right now, well preferably excluding the part involving Momoi's chastisement.

The amazing thing about the matches the day before is Aomine did not win them all, the majority yes, but Kagami was improving quickly. It wouldn't be long before they were winning fifty-fifty if Kuroko was judging it right. He had known when first approaching Kagami that while he wasn't on the level of the Miracles yet, he would quickly get there; he hadn't needed Kise to tell him for him to figure it out. A few pushes in the right direction and he had blown away all expectations.

Now if only he could find a way to rein in their egos when they weren't on the court. He doubted that would happen, and truly he didn't mind it most of the time, it would just be nice if they came with an off switch. All the Miracles fell prey to that, Kuroko could attest to that truth, but they all showed it in different ways.

Aomine was pure cocky arrogance, and most of his claims were justified, but that arrogance was his undoing. In becoming the best he lost the thrill of battling an opponent of equal skill. He turned himself into a recluse by loving the game so much he ended up hating it. He split off from Kuroko, and in the process hurt the both of them.

Midorima had his own pride, his whole life was devoted to luck, from the moment he woke up until he went to bed he had his horoscope guiding his every step. The thing is, when he did that, it tended to work. He never missed a shot that wasn't interfered with by an opposing player, and even then it was incredibly rare for a player to block his shots. So far the only ones that could do it consistently were Murasakibara and Kagami, though Aomine could do it on occasions it wasn't all the time and Kise hadn't managed it at all yet. The problem was with all the things Midorima did to ensure his luck, he estranged himself from people, they just didn't understand him. Kuroko knew everyone teased him about being a Tsundere, but he felt it was more like Midorima just didn't know how he was supposed to react to people and situations so he drew into himself.

Murasakibara didn't like basketball, he was good at it, but he didn't like it. He was more stubbornness than pride. He could have turned Akashi down, but no, he chose to play a game he didn't like just because he could crush his opponents. In that way he was a bit like Aomine. Even that wasn't quite true though, Aomine thrashed other players because he didn't know how not to, Murasakibara did it because Akashi told him to. His childlike mind could have something to do with how easily he let himself be led by Akashi. All the Miracles were bound to their captain in one way or another, but Kuroko had always noticed that out of all of them Murasakibara was the closest thing to a real friend Akashi had; everyone else was a teammate or student.

Kise was the oddity, he was extremely competitive –just like the rest of the Miracles- but he didn't have quite the same arrogance issues. Not since he discovered basketball any way. Of the whole Generation of Miracles he managed to keep a greater love for the game rather than just a rush for points. Granted that might stem from the others hogging the ball during a game, it still meant he had a heart left in him. His over-exuberance was fostered by the fact he had found somewhere he belonged. A place no matter how quickly he learned there would still be something more to try. He was well on his way down the road of apathy towards everything else until he joined the basketball club.

Akashi was in a class all his own. Kuroko didn't think there was a strong enough word to describe his personality. Arrogance hardly began to cover the whole truth of his emotions, though that was certainly a place to start. He was the Red King who saw everything, and knew everything. He would have been defeated long ago if it wasn't for the fact he actually was right about most everything. Hard to argue with that. His problem was the same as Midorima's though magnified to an unheard of scale. Akashi did not have normal relationships with the people around him, he just didn't. He either ruled them or dismissed them, and in this time and place that was hardly the way to entreat yourself to anyone.

Kuroko had dealt with all of their differing personalities to the point of tailoring his own skills to complement theirs; a good shadow follows the light not the other way around. Believe it or not, he enjoyed playing with the idiots. They gave him something he never thought he would have; recognition. He had always been unnoticeable but this group of super powered athletes had looked at him and actually saw what he was capable of. First Aomine and then Akashi had taken a good look at him and realized his potential; something even Kuroko didn't know he could do. Sure it would be nice to be able to do more on the court, but if his friends were smiling he was happy to smile with them. It's what made the separation at the end of their Teiko days all the more painful.

With a look at the once again sleeping Kagami in front of him, he reminded himself he had six over-arrogant but wonderfully talented Lights to call his own. He had succeeded in waking them up and bringing them back to themselves.

…Maybe he didn't need that off switch after all?

XxxxxX

Okay, maybe he did need that switch. This change of heart was brought about by the tall model currently draping himself over Kuroko.

It was hard but not impossible to shake Kise off when he got in these moods. Sometimes Kuroko took care of it himself, and others he waited for someone to come to his rescue. This was one of the days where he felt like doing something himself. He wiggled out of Kise's grasp leaving him holding onto air with tears running down from his golden eyes.

"Kurokocchi! Don't push me away, I miss you Kurokocchi!" He was in the middle of making another attempt at smothering the shadow when Kasamatsu interrupted by slamming his arm down onto Kise's back before he could finish a lunge.

"It's alright Kasamatsu-san, you don't have to do that," Kuroko assured before putting his focus back on Kise. "You can calm down now Kise-kun, we are going to get to play together again. Isn't that what you have been wanting? We can't do that if you don't let go of me." He pointed out reasonably, Kise's nearly blinding smile was contagious to everyone but Kuroko and even then he felt his lips turn up at the sight.

Kise was practically bouncing as he responded happily, "It's going to be so much fun Kurokocchi! I'm mad though Aominecchi got to play first. I should have been first to play with Kurokocchi!"

His sincerity and enthusiasm were infectious, and despite themselves the Seirin players began to relax around the Kaijo ace, while Kasamatsu took the opportunity to ditch his teammate so he could talk to Hyuuga and Riko without the annoyance.

"Hey Kise, do you ever get serious?" Kagami finally came out and asked.

In the next few moments Kise's expression changed completely, from happy smiling dork, to something cold and hard. Nearly as challenging as Aomine, but worse in some ways since it was so far from his normal expression, "Of course I do, but you wouldn't like it if I was like this all the time." Finished speaking he returned to his usual smiling countenance.

Kagami gulped, "Right, last thing we need is two Aomines."

"Kagami-kun, why are you so worked up now?" No one was fooled by Kuroko's mild tone, and braced themselves for the punch line, "Didn't you say just a few days ago that you hoped our guest would be Kise-kun?"

"Argh, maybe out of a choice between evils I did," Kagami wouldn't meet his shadow's eyes.

He should have looked up, it would have given him some warning what was to come if he had seen Kise's sudden predatory gaze. "You were that eager to face me again Kagamicchi?" He teased brightly, the humor covering his seriousness.

"Just didn't want to deal with Aomine or Midorima," Kagami figured if he admitted it once, he would admit it again to Kise's face. It wasn't like he had anything to hide.

Kise actually laughed, "That does sound like Kagamicchi, but really they aren't that bad. Midorima even responds whenever I text, none of the others do." An over-exaggerated frown crossed his face while admitting that."

"Yeah he does, but it's usually because he is telling you to go die," Kasamatsu had returned to the circle of chatting players with Hyuuga and Riko.

Kise pouted, "Well at least he answers," He sounded very disgruntled at that.

"Kise-kun, maybe you shouldn't be so glad to receive Midorima-kun's death threats." Kuroko advised, bracing himself encase Kise decided to glomp him since he spoke up again.

Kise crossed his arms and spoke indignity, "It isn't all death threats, sometimes I get a real answer. He just gets cranky when I bring up basketball," He defended himself, "I wished him luck before his games and he told me to go die."

"Kise-kun you should know better, us wishing each other good luck is like saying we are going to need it in order to win. Especially if we have played the opponent before and the other one of us hasn't." Despite using it to chastise Kise, Kuroko was really glad he could use the term 'us' involving the Miracles without feeling like there was a dagger driven into his heart. It was okay to remember the good times again because he had come face to face with the effects of the bad times and he won out against them. "You saying that to Midorima-kun would make him think you were mocking him. I'm kind of surprised the response was as tame as that; at least with him you can be relatively sure he won't carry his threats out."

"I wasn't mocking Midorimacchi," He was unusually insistent on that. "I meant it like saying I was rooting for him, not saying he needed it to win."

"I'm not the one you needed to tell that to," Kuroko pointed out calmly.

"I didn't know I had to," Kise admitted, "I thought he was just being stubborn again."

Hyuuga nearly snorted trying to hold in his laughter, "From what I've seen that isn't a bad guess. All the Miracles are extremely stubborn, and yes Kuroko I mean you too."

"I don't mind senpai," Kuroko didn't protest, he knew it was true, that was one of the few things Seirin hadn't managed to stamp out of him from his days at Teiko. He wasn't something he thought would ever change to be honest.

Kise turned a surprisingly sharp gaze towards the Seirin captain, "Kurokocchi is the most stubborn of all of us. He wouldn't have done what he did, even with your team backing him up, if he wasn't so persistent."

Kagami huffed, "You aren't telling us anything we don't already know. You think we haven't seen him in action? He works harder than all of us just to keep up, if that isn't stubbornness than I don't know what is."

"As productive as this conversation is," Hyuuga interjected with no small amount of sarcasm, "Didn't you come to play basketball?"

"Yep, I want to play with Kurokocchi again," Kise chirped once again back to his trademark sunny personality. "We even get to be on the same team!" It was reassuring to hear the honesty in the exclamation, Kise was just as excited about playing with Kuroko again as the shadow was to have his lights back the way they used to be.

Kagami was an intricate part of his life now, but no matter how strong their bond had grown, there was no denying the influence his old teammates still had over him.

"Okay so how are we going to split up the teams? Yesterday was three on three, but Aomine isn't here to back up Kagami like they did yesterday. Should we shift the numbers around?" Izuki asked getting down to business.

"If you are going against Kurokocchi and me, three on three is a bad idea," Kise warned. "Kurokocchi usually wins no matter what side he is on, it took two aces for that not to happen. Give us three and the other side five."

"I wouldn't argue with him," Kasamatsu admitted. "He's actually good at judging skills, he has to be in order to copy them properly."

"If Kise is so good at judging why was he so surprised we could beat you?" Koganei asked, with more curiosity than arrogance, which saved him from incurring the wraith of the Kaijo players.

"You caught us off guard, we didn't expect to have to play that hard. He didn't underestimate you, he overestimated us in that situation. He knows exactly what our team is capable of, but didn't know we wouldn't be playing on that level the whole time." Kasamatsu explained. That particular loss still smarted a little, not because they couldn't belive it, but because they hadn't seen it coming. Usually he at least had a clue which team might be able to beat them, before Kaijo had to play them.

Hyuuga got a contemplative look on his face, "Who do you think would win if we faced each other again?"

"I don't know," Kasamatsu confessed, "Both teams have grown since we last played, I have seen your matches and know you are strong, but we are stronger as well."

"Losing against Aominecchi was a good motivator," Kise grumbled, "At least I knew after that how much more was possible for me."

"You learned to copy the other Miracles," Riko noted, "That couldn't have been easy."

Kise's smile was a little more downcast, memories clouding him as he answered, "But it was easy. I had played all of them almost every day; striving to be as good as they were. When I realized it was possible to copy Aominecchi it woke me up and taught me if I could match him, I could do it with the others. I had watched all of their talents bloom for three years before leaving Teiko. Of course I could remember it all when I finally had enough confidence in myself to use it."

"Kise-kun works hard," Kuroko just knew he was going to end up regretting this, but he continued anyway. "He has hurt himself many times while trying to copy moves his body wasn't quite ready to handle. It didn't stop him though. Akashi-kun got mad at him when he did that because it compromised his playing ability in future quarters and possibly the next game we played."

Kise hugged him, he had expected that, but it wasn't so tight he couldn't breathe yet, "Thank you Kurokocchi! I just wanted to be able to help more. I saw how great everyone else was and needed to catch up."

Kasamatsu wacked him upside the head, "Idiot if you push yourself too hard you really will damage yourself. After our game again Touou I had to help you off the court, you couldn't even stand."

"I wasn't going to back down from Aominecchi," Kise pressed releasing Kuroko to look at his captain. "You guys were counting on me."

"Don't be too hard on him Kasamatsu-san," Riko interrupted, "Aomine came away from that match injured too. We know from Touou's manager that he was kept out of the Inter-High finals because of it, he mainly damaged his elbow. I don't think it's possible for two of the Miracles to go against each other without pushing themselves too hard. Kuroko-kun included in that."

If you were looking closely you could see the pink on Kuroko's cheeks, "I don't push myself any harder against them than I do in any other game." He attempted to refute.

"Oh yes you do," Kagami refused to let his shadow get out of this one. "It might be about the same physically but you only show us what you're capable of planning when we are facing one of them. The only time I have seen an exception to that is when we played Kirisaki. They made you mad and you beat them down."

"Akashicchi always listened to Kurokocchi's plans," Kise revealed. "Midorimacchi was the second in command, but Kurokocchi was better at creating plays. Oh and we all knew better than to make Kurokocchi mad, Aominecchi's hand needed to be iced more than once."

As one man Seirin turned to look at Kuroko in awe. "I knew you were good, but how come you never told us you were –that- good!" Riko demanded.

Kuroko wouldn't meet her eyes, "I didn't want the same thing that happened at Teiko to happen at Seirin. The minute you have a top player you automatically have a bottom, and that's what tore us apart. Everyone wanted the top spot."

"We don't call Kurokocchi the phantom sixth player for nothing, he really is one of us." Kise assured. "But I think that was a bad thing too. We acknowledge Kurokocchi as one of us, but when it came down to games more and more pressure was put on us to score individually, passing was to be done as a last resort because it meant lowering your own numbers and increasing someone else's. We knew his skill, but we couldn't use it in other words." He looked ashamed of himself, and that was an expression they never thought they would see on the model's face.

"That's terrible!" Riko realized with horror. "I want to meet this Akashi and give him a piece of my mind, or preferably my fist. How could a Captain do that to his team, and what kind of coach would let him?"

"Don't blame Akashi-kun for all of it," Kuroko disagreed, "He was a product of Teiko's ideals. He didn't always act the way he did at the end, Kise-kun was right about him, but it was after he changed. In the beginning he was hard on us, but not to the point of pitting us against each other to grapple for points. With Teiko's motto emphasizing victory over anything else he gradually changed into the Akashi-kun you met at the Winter Cup."

"Akashicchi was pushing himself just as hard as us, don't only blame him, blame Teiko for changing him." Kise agreed.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Riko wasn't convinced; from what she had witnessed she wouldn't put it past all the Miracles to defend their Captain even if he was still a bloodthirsty tyrant. She still wanted to have a word or several with the Rakuzan captain before letting him come too close to her boys. "Now we've stood around quite long enough, Kuroko-kun, Kise-kun, and Izuki-kun get out on the court. For the other side, Kasamatsu-san, Kagami-kun, Mitobe-kun, Junpei, and yes Teppei you can play but the same rules apply here as it did playing with Touou."

It was only when all the mentioned players were safely on the court that Koganei came up by Riko, "Do you believe them? About their captain?" Seems like the cat like boy had caught onto the same things Riko had.

"Yes and no," Riko admitted splitting her focus between Koganei and the game, pleased to see Kuroko and Kise syncing up well. She had been afraid their smallest player would be too used to his primary Lights to function well with others, Kuroko was proving her wrong all over the place and she couldn't be happier about it. "I think they believe what they are saying. That doesn't make it true though. I don't think everything we've seen and heard about Akashi came from a school motto, I just don't know how much of his personality is indoctrinated or natural."

Koganei was watching the game as well, and while watching his appreciation for Kuroko grew, he was glad they had him on their team instead of trying to face him. Even with Kise instead of Kagami or Aomine the effects of Kuroko's passes were felt. Kise had definitely gotten more efficient in his copying too. After all the effort he expended to learn Aomine's entire style in the space of a game, he was now capable of taking on more than one new move at a time. "I don't know, but I think it says something that all the Miracles rapidly gained skill once they were free of Teiko, even Kuroko was shocked at how different Kise was."

"Separating them may have been the best thing for them, and Kuroko-kun did tell us it was planned that they all go to different high schools. Maybe it was the last thing Akashi could do for his team that showed he actually had a heart." It was all conjecture though, and the game in front of her was far more interesting than musings that would be answered by meeting the feared player.

With that in mind Riko and Koganei fell silent, and simply enjoyed the game with the rest of the Seirin players left on the bench. Furihata leaned over to whisper to Fukuda, "I hope we get to play soon."

"Yeah it would be great to get out there," Fukuda agreed, Kawahara nodding along with him.

"Hey first years, Koga and I haven't played yet either, just relax we'll get our shot." Tsuchida chided. He completely understood their plight, but there wasn't much they could do about it except train hard and be patient until they were put on the court.

The trio quieted but kept fidgeting in their seats, every time a particularly good play was made they had to forcibly restrain themselves from running onto the court and joining in. This was a whole new kind of torture for the basketball enthusiasts.

The first game ended with a close match up of 52 to 55 in favor of Kagami's team. Kise had been right, even one more player on their side would have meant victory, but this spread had kept them all working to the very end.

Riko looked them over critically, "I think for the next round we should pull Kise-kun and Kagami-kun out of the game. I want Izuki-kun and Kasamatsu-san to get just as much practice in but you two are taking over most of the court."

"How do you want us to split up this time?" Kiyoshi asked before going back to chugging water and wiping the sweat off his face and neck.

"First years are restless, let's give them some time on the court," Riko hadn't missed the exchange behind her. "Teppei you switch over to Kuroko-kun's side. We will keep three there. On the other let's have Junpei, Tsuchida, Fukuda, and Kawahara along with Kasamatsu."

When their names were mentioned the previously benched players practically exploded onto the court with loud whoops, only Furihata left looking disgruntled. "Sorry Furihata-kun, but you've been training to be a point guard and we already have two plus Kuroko backing up the one side. I'll put you in when we have to give Kuroko-kun a rest." She promised. "Oh and Koganei, I'm subbing you in for Teppei after this. I don't want him getting reckless."

Both left out players had wide smiles on their face in anticipation of getting to play.

"And that's what Teiko was missing the last year or so," Kise commented collapsing on the bench and dragging his water bottle over to him, oh he wasn't that tired yet, he just didn't stand on decorum much when he was away from his mass of fans for once.

"What? Happiness?" Kagami guessed, mirroring the copycat and collapsing on the bench.

"Something like that," Kise admitted, "There wasn't any joy in the game itself anymore, it was all about points and winning rather than having fun with each other. You guys still have that. I noticed it the first time we played against each other, I'm glad that hasn't changed with you winning your way up to and through the Winter Cup."

"So you guys winning really did mess the Miracles up," Kagami mused. "Can't say I'm surprised. You looked at me like I was an alien when I told you it was better if I couldn't win. There's no fun in it if you are guaranteed to win."

Kise leaned back on the bench supporting himself with his arms and letting his head fall lazily to the side so he could look at Kagami while talking, "You sound like Aominecchi when you say that. He changed the most out of all of us, and it was because he was too strong. He didn't have anyone able to stand against him. I've tried and it just wasn't quite enough, you could stand toe to toe with him and win. He's been waiting for a rival like you for a very long time."

"I didn't win alone," Kagami returned hotly, a pointed look out to the court where Kuroko had redirected a pass from Izuki to Kiyoshi, the tall center neatly putting it through the hoop. "We have Kuroko standing with us."

Kise's eyes gleamed mischievously, "Won't it be interesting to see how much of you and Aominecchi's skill is because of Kurokocchi. He will be working with either me or Himurocchi, if we can beat the both of you it says something now doesn't it?"

"Maybe me, I have no shame in admitting if it wasn't for Kuroko I wouldn't be this good, but that's both because we team up in games but also because seeing him work so hard makes me want to train just as harshly." Kagami willingly confessed, "Aomine has been playing solo for a while now, and we still barely managed to beat him."

"But you did beat him," Kise reiterated, "No one else has, and Kurokocchi couldn't have done it alone either. There is a reason he is a shadow, when it works the way it's supposed to then both sides grow stronger. He always said it was the brighter the light the darker the shadow, because he boosted us, but the way we saw it his darkness is what made the Light shine so brightly."

"You really think your side is going to be able to beat ours at the showcase?" That wasn't hard to guess from what little Kise had already said about the upcoming charity matches.

"We might be able to, and really you've played Aominecchi twice, you have to know what it means if I think we even come close. I know I can play with Kurokocchi, we've done it before, but I don't know about the others on our side." Kise analyzed with a shrug, he was more interested in being able to play basketball with all of his friends again then he was about winning. The change of heart felt good compared to how it was before a big tournament in Teiko.

"Hell, I don't have a clue what's going to happen. I've never really played against Kuroko except in practice matches. I always get this feeling he's holding back somehow, and I don't want that to happen anymore." Kagami admitted.

"He does hold back, but that's our fault, he saw us destroy ourselves by not keeping control over ourselves. His way won out so there must be something to that." Kise explained.

"His way does seem the best," Kagami agreed, working up enough curiosity to wonder why he was already so relaxed around the Kaijo ace. Huh, must just be because he wasn't Aomine.

Kise was feeling similarly, here was his competition if he wanted to be called Kuroko's light again, but he just couldn't get himself to even dislike Kagami much less hate him. "You know, we hurt Kurokocchi really badly, I don't know all the details only Akashicchi does. I only know that he was already bleeding, but something happened in that last game of the championship that made Kurokocchi break away completely. I didn't understand why he left us back then, but I do know, and I can't believe he actually gave us a chance to come back around much less except us again. Now do you see why I can't help but hug or touch him whenever I see him? I'm afraid he is going to disappear again, and Kurokocchi is the best at not being found if he doesn't want to be."

Kagami wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, but he had to try, "If you Miracles knew you screwed up, if it were me, I'd be groveling on my knees at his feet. He was the reason you won before you got your special skills. I've heard him say it was Aomine that bloomed first, when to me it was really Kuroko."

"No argument from me," Kise assured, "I know what we had, and I still have nightmare about how we lost him. I'm glad that time is over."

"For what it's worth, I'm glad you came to your senses, for Kuroko's sake. He was working for you, and I never want to hear about any of you hurting him; do you understand?" Kagami wasn't even really sure why he was warning Kise, but it felt right, and he didn't fight his instincts.

"I will never do anything to make Kurokocchi hurt that bad ever again," Kise stated forcibly, and Kagami to his own surprise believed him.


	4. Hot and Cold

Light and Shadow

Shadow of an Echo

Chapter Four

Hot and Cold

The Seirin team was busy practicing in the gym. Everyone was progressing well, Riko privately thought the demonstrations made by the visiting teams was part of the reason her boys were pushing themselves so hard. When playing against someone you don't have time to stop and appreciate their opponent's more subtle skills. You learned more about a person playing with them rather than against them.

The Miracles were good, as to be expected, but the extreme caliber of their talent was something that hadn't hit them until they weren't focusing all their attention on winning. No doubt about it her team could learn something from them, but she did remind herself they had beaten all of them before; some of them more than once. They could hold their heads up when around them, but she had no doubt most of their wins had come down to Kuroko in one way or another, it was either his skill or planning that managed to surpass his old teammates.

Yes, there was a reason the only players that gave the Miracles a real challenge was each other, but now she was sure they had a Miracle of their own. She wasn't talking about Kagami with that, he is another example of Kuroko's brilliance. He had brought out the talent in his Light, by challenging him to grow stronger, and pushing himself harder than the others so he wouldn't let the team down. Seeing what Kuroko was doing had lit a fire in Kagami, a flame only stoked hotter with every match up against a Miracle.

Then again, her boys were a bunch of idiots, she shook her head in resignation as practice devolved into another confrontation between Kuroko and Kagami, their shadow was pursing Kagami with Nigou. Looks like Kagami wasn't completely over his fear of dogs yet, and Kuroko loved to use it against him when his Light irritated him.

Blowing her whistle stopped both boys in their tracks, with them immediately wheeling around to face her. "That's enough," She chastised, then addressed Kuroko, "What did Bakagami do this time?"

"I didn't do anything!" Kagami defended himself before Kuroko could answer.

"That was the problem Kagami-kun, you didn't do anything, and by anything I mean catching that pass. Then you blamed it on me." Kuroko informed their captain emotionlessly, keeping a straight face as usual.

Kagami grumbled, "It was too fast, you didn't give me a chance to get in position."

"If that had been a game our opponent wouldn't have given you any more time than Kuroko did, face it Kagami you just plain missed. There was no reason you couldn't have caught it." Hyuuga gave their ace a dressing down. He had witnessed the entire incident.

"He's right Kagami," Izuki joined in, the barely suppressed laughter in his voice doing nothing but angering Kagami further. "You missed, I saw it, Kuroko did everything right."

"Damn that eagle eye," Kagami thought he had spoken too low to hear, but he was quickly disabused of that notion when Riko yanked on his ear harshly, pulling him down until he was on her level.

"I'm tripling your training menu Bakagami, I might have only doubled it, but since you decided to try pinning the blame on Kuroko-kun you deserve every lap. I suggest you get to it if you want to be done before midnight." She ordered, letting go of his ear so he could obey her command.

Kagami might have had too much pride to admit he'd missed, but he definitely didn't have enough to defy Riko. He raced back onto the court like the hounds of hell were snapping at his heels.

"Thank you Hyuuga-senpai and Izuki-senpai. He needs to learn to admit mistakes, it will help him play better." Kuroko thanked simply, they had backed him up, and it was an admittedly odd feeling for someone to do that without trying to get something out of it.

Hyuuga shrugged, "He was in the wrong. Last thing we need is for his ego to get any bigger because he never fesses up to mistakes and we don't call him on it."

"To be fair he doesn't do it often, we did kind of call him out on the spot, I think we all might be a bit defensive if that happened," Riko mused. "It was still wrong to pass the blame though."

"Kuroko doesn't miss," The sudden interruption of a foreign but familiar voice had them turning towards the door. Shutoku's shooting guard was there with his typical serious expression, though the point guard following him had his hand clamped over his mouth to stifle his chuckles. Midorima came further into the gym as he spoke, "Akashi made sure that if Kuroko was passing the ball it always got to where it was going. At the time passing and stealing were the only things he was really good at so the two of them honed it to perfection."

"Midorima-kun how long have you been there?" Kuroko asked, attempting to change the subject off of him. He had left the days at Teiko behind him, the only thing he wanted to remember were the people; the development of his power wasn't something he wanted to dwell on.

"We've been here since your coach pulled on Kagami's ear," Takao answered for his taller teammate, still laughing a bit at Kagami's misfortune.

"Takao, get a grip on yourself," Midorima ordered the still chuckling Takao.

It took a few moments for Takao to collect himself, "Sorry Shin-chan, but even you have to admit that was funny."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Midorima insisted, clutching the small dragon figurine held in his hand tighter, sometimes his lucky items served well as stress relievers so he didn't get quite so strong an urge to throttle the closest thing to a friend he had after leaving Teiko.

Takao sighed, "You know you are allowed to smile every once and a while, if you keep that disapproving look on your face you'll give yourself wrinkles."

So much for control, Midorima stretched his arm out and bopped Takao on the head. It was hard enough Takao was rubbing the spot and glaring at him for the action.

"What is it with the Miracles having such crazy sidekicks?" Kagami had finally noticed them, stopping his laps around the gym to join the conversation.

All the effort Takao had put into stifling his laughter was wasted at Kagami's question, "Kagami you do realize you just called yourself crazy right? You're Kuroko's sidekick. Oh, and didn't that brother of yours come with Murasakibara?"

"Tch, Tatsuya is crazy I'll give you that, but how in the heck am I his sidekick?" Kagami demanded.

Kuroko was considering using his Ignite Pass in a decidedly non-traditional way when Midorima's voice stopped all thoughts. "What else did you think being a 'light' to him meant? Sounds like a sidekick to me."

Holy mother of basketball, did Midorima just make a joke? Yes, yes he did.

Takao faked a swoon, as all the others gaped at Midorima with varying degrees of obviousness.

Midorima hid his embarrassment by adjusting his glasses, "Must you stare at me like that?"

"Ah, Shin-chan I don't think they have ever heard you joking before. Give them a few minutes to recover from the shock." Takao explained with the widest grin he could produce plastered across his face.

"Midorima-kun has a sense of humor, he just doesn't show it very often," Kuroko informed, taking a little pity on his ex-teammate. He knew Midorima hated too much attention put on him, at least when he was playing basketball the people were focused on the game itself, preferably not him personally.

"Like you're any better," Midorima accused quietly, "I bet you never told them you use them to practice your misdirection on because you find it amusing to see people jump when they do notice you."

This made Kagami laugh, "I always thought that was what you were doing Kuroko. Too many times you scared us only to disappear again. Oh wait, if Midorima knows about it, does that mean you did it to the Miracles too?" He realized.

Kuroko was shaking his head, ready to deny it, when Midorima beat him to answering, "Of course he did. The only one he never caught off guard was Akashi, even Aomine fell for it every once and awhile."

"How many times did he get you Shin-chan?" Takao was finding this field trip more amusing every second. He never let an opportunity to needle his teammate slip away. He often felt it was the only thing keeping Midorima's ego in check, well that and the threat of a pineapple being thrown at his head.

Another blush covered up by Midorima adjusting his glasses, too bad Kuroko had enough of Midorima revealing his secrets, time for some payback. "Every time I tried it." Kuroko almost sounded proud of himself, a distinct change from his usual stoniness. "I always caught him off guard. Akashi instructed me to focus on passing to Aomine-kun and Kise-kun if Aomine wasn't available. Midorima got the ball from either Akashi-kun himself, or when Murasakibara-kun passed it to him. The closer I work with someone, the harder it is to sneak up on them."

Midorima sighed, "He's right. Though it wasn't really my fault he could get to me so easily, Akashi was the one who set up our games like that. Plus he only played himself when Kuroko was subbed out, so most of the time my only means of getting the ball was to steal it or be open for Murasakibara to get it to me. The very rare times Kuroko passed to me was because all the others were being marked too tightly."

"You guys really didn't play as a team," Hyuuga noted, shaking his head. "If you focus on just the individual skills you won't get the benefits of combining your talents to make the both of you stronger. Correct me if I'm wrong Kuroko, but isn't that the principle behind the Light and Shadow dynamic you use?"

"Yes, you have it right senpai." Kuroko assured. "I can't amplify something that isn't there at all, and if my partner isn't good enough to catch my passes or follow my movements then there is no point working together. On my side I have to be tough enough to get the ball where it is needed, and that means understanding what is happening at all points on the court at all times. We both have to be strong for my method to work." He explained completely for the first time what it meant for him to be a Shadow and his partner the Light.

"The stronger the Light the deeper the Shadow," Midorima added, "That was how Aomine explained it. I'm slightly ashamed of the fact the only true team on our side was between him and Kuroko. Kise wanted that kind of partnership, but he came into the regulars too late, the bond between Kuroko and Aomine was too strong for him to enter it with them."

"Aomine could bring out the full potential of Kuroko's talent because he was the one tough enough to handle what that meant," To the other's surprise that was Kagami. "That's the way I look at it, and you guys are always harping on me about being like Aomine. He would probably think the same way." Kagami admitted the connection between himself and Aomine grudgingly, but he insisted to himself that the only time he agreed at all with what that arrogant ass was saying is when he was talking about Kuroko.

Shaking herself out of the shock, Riko responded first, "That's actually surprisingly insightful for you Bakagami."

"I'm not a complete idiot you know," Kagami defended himself, getting irritated that his team occasionally equated his impulsiveness with stupidity. They were two very different things, he wasn't stupid, he just lost control of himself sometimes.

"As much fun as teasing Kagami is, don't you think we should be playing some basketball?" Hyuuga had let the fun go as long as they could afford to, it wasn't often he saw everyone as relaxed and playful as they were now; even Midorima wasn't quite as tense as he usually was.

"You're right Junpei," Riko agreed, "But Midorima-kun, the others both played together with Kuroko at the start and split up later, do you want to do the same?"

Midorima debated with himself for a few moments, "I'm not sure how much you would get out of me working with him, but it couldn't hurt either. I'll let Kuroko decide if he wants to or not." He eventually passed control over to his former teammate.

Now it was Kuroko's turn to debate, but he didn't take as long to make up his mind, "I would like to work with you again Midorima-kun, we didn't get to much at Teiko but I respect your style and would like to show the others what you can do. You haven't shown your new team everything yet."

"Wait, Shin-chan has been holding out on us?" Takao demanded in a fit of disbelief, why would Midorima hold back if his team was losing?

"Not exactly," Kuroko backtracked, regrouping, "It's not that he hasn't shown what he can do as a shooting guard, it's the fact he was the most versatile player on the court. Akashi-kun reminded everyone at the meeting all of the other Miracles besides me could play every position, what he didn't say was Midorima-kun was the best at it."

"Really Shin-chan?" Takao asked with hope and awe. His playful attitude momentarily pushed aside.

A put upon sigh, "Is it really that surprising? We weren't called Miracles just because we can play a single position well. Individual talents made us famous, but our ability to think like the players in other positions made sure we were in the right place at the right time, that was the real key to us winning so much."

"Hmm, I can understand that," Kiyoshi mused, "I play center now, but I actually prefer point guard. Knowing both positions helps me now to predict how the game is going to go and find the best way to deal with a pass or shoot situation."

Shifting the focus off of himself, Midorima outed Kuroko, "He might not have been able to physically play in other positions, but Kuroko did understand them. How else do you think he knew where everyone was on the court and where they would move to? I might be better at playing, but no one can beat him in strategy."

"If he can get passed me, I believe it," Takao noted. "I'm only useful as a point guard, but what I can do I push myself to the limit using."

"Can we drop this please?" Kuroko broke down and asked, he didn't typically like showing what topics were his weak points, but they had hit one too many of his secrets for a single conversation.

"Yes Kuroko-kun, we should have gotten players out onto the court already," Riko saved her kouhai from further revelations. "Okay, for Aomine-kun we had equal sides, and for Kise-kun we had three on five weighted towards his side. How did you think we should split up now?" She directed the question to the two Miracles in the group.

"Three on three would be fine," Midorima answered, "As long as Takao isn't put on our side." He cautioned, if that particular trio played together he doubted any three player combination possible among those present could match them.

"Fine, how about you and Kuroko-kun with Mitobe-kun, and then Hyuuga-kun, Kagami-kun, and Izuki-kun against you?" Riko suggested.

Kuroko was the one to nod, "That will make a good game." He analyzed.

With that decided the named players took their places on the court, with the rest relaxing back on the bench to watch, though Takao chose to sit on the floor with both arms splayed out on the bench behind him. "This is gonna be good," He declared happily.

"You recovered fast from your shock," Kiyoshi noticed, he was the one sitting closest to Takao, Koganei on the other side.

Takao chuckled, "I'm no longer too surprised at what Shin-chan can do, I was just upset he might have held back something that could have helped the team. It took me a second to release he never really held it back, he just didn't tell us that's what he was doing."

"That's understandable," Kiyoshi responded thoughtfully, "Sometimes a talented player has difficulties telling someone else about their abilities, either because they are protecting their teammates from potential jealousy, or they just might not be very good at describing their unusual skill." He explained, there had been a few of the Uncrowned Kings with the same problem. He had kept in touch with them all for various reasons, they had been brought together in the face of playing the Generation of Miracles. Common ground was a great motivator to pick up allies.

They all had a distaste for Hanamiya's approach though, that they could also agree on, but you really couldn't argue with his results even if you had major issues with how he went about it.

Kiyoshi was brought out of his musings by Takao's laughter, "That does sound like Shin-chan. He has issues identifying with our team, but he does train hard to help us win, we owe him a lot. That he would go to the lengths he has to not alienate himself even further from us suggests he actually does care about us."

"And it's his style that he not say anything about it," Koganei interrupted, "We have all seen how he acts when we play him. It isn't hard to figure out how he would deal with something like that."

"He's a true Tsundere," Takao agreed, "He does care about people, but showing it is difficult for him."

"I've got to ask, you told us at the restaurant we all accidently met up in that you had lost track of your team because Midorima was crying. Did he really end up crying when we beat him the first time?" Riko asked curiously, she had been monitoring the practice match and their conversation at the same time.

And the game was worth watching, it had taken longer for Kuroko and Midorima to get in sync than Kise or Aomine, but once they did both of their skills were brought out. By having only three people on their side, Midorima was put in the position of being power forward, shooting guard, and a bit of a point guard. Mitobe took center, the rest of point guard, and occasionally small forward if Kuroko dropped out of that spot to work independently when their side was pressed too hard.

Midorima was forced to think quickly when coordinating with Mitobe, the quiet senior's lack of speaking made them communicate in a combination of body language and Midorima's directions. It might not have worked at all if Kuroko wasn't able to point out Mitobe's skills to Midorima through his various passes. Once they had the kinks worked out on their side, Midorima and Mitobe were able to get passes through to each other when Kuroko stole the ball and put it into position only to have his pass target covered too tightly to shoot. Kagami was still in prime shape to block Midorima's three pointers, their only hope to win was out thinking their opponent to get the ball through quicker than Kagami could keep up. It was a real challenge on both sides. Kagami was both fast, and instinctually intelligent when it came to reading basketball plays. Kuroko's extreme skill with that forcing him to increase his own talents so he could receive his Shadow's passes even if they were outside the usual plays Seirin did.

She had spoken to Takao right after a particularly fast pass from Kuroko and a good block on Midorima's part allowed Mitobe to score with a hook shot without Kagami pressuring him, getting around Hyuuga's defense with the difficult shot to both make and defend against. Kiyoshi whistled to himself in appreciation of Mitobe's skill. As a center himself he knew how hard that shot was to make.

Even Kiyoshi's focus was taken off the court though when Takao answered Riko's question, "Yeah he did, I think it was because he had the rain to mask it. I could tell he was crying though, his eyes were red. Oh and I just remembered Kise did the same thing after losing to you in your practice match. The Miracles really can't stand losing, I think they are slightly better at handling loses now, but back when they were defeated the first time it was nearly impossible for them to handle."

"Knowing that almost makes me feel bad for them," Koganei admitted, "Almost. It's hard to feel bad for someone who's reason for breaking down was they hadn't lost in so long they forgot how to deal with it."

"I can feel bad for them," Kiyoshi disagreed, "I played them when we were still in middle school, they were already losing their passion for the game. All of their passion was already focusing on winning rather than enjoying the game they were playing."

"Do you remember Kuroko from back then?" Furihata asked, curious about his fellow first year. The other two first years were interest too, but it was hard to talk to Kuroko when he was so busy practicing with the other starters.

"Not really," Kiyoshi admitted, "You've seen him play. Trying to spot him when you haven't worked with him before is extremely difficult. I did see the effects of his passes though. He really did compliment the others well, especially Aomine. With Kuroko's passes coming out of nowhere, and Aomine's ability to make shots from just about any position on the court without a form was a very deadly combination."

They could believe it too, even with Midorima as a partner, Kuroko and him were expertly coordinated. Years of being on the same court showing itself in their form. Quick back and forth passes had both Midorima and Mitobe making shots. The other side was by no means not getting them back for most of them, but they were still in the lead by a good ten points.

"Yeah they were good," Takao agreed with what Kiyoshi had observed. "But Shin-chan will always be my favorite Miracle. I wouldn't trade him even knowing how quirky his habits are. I actually like his lucky item thing, I find it kind of cute a guy as big and talented as him carries around such crazy things. The other day the lucky item was a china doll with a pink dress." Takao was having trouble keeping his laughter under control at remembering the doll with all its lace and frills.

It wasn't all that difficult to be amused by the thought of the player who had just had his latest shot blocked by Kagami, luckily for their side Mitobe got the rebound and managed to make a basket before anyone could cover him. Izuki darted in to retrieve the falling ball, racing back to the other side of the court, Midorima running to pressure him into passing the ball to Kagami who used one of his super powered jumps to dunk the ball into the hoop.

Still laughing at the image of Midorima carrying around a pink frilly doll Koganei managed to speak between guffaws, "Well at least for his sake it's a dragon today, I don't think any of us could resist teasing him if it was something like that doll." He was trying to stop laughing, he really was, but it wasn't working too well.

"What I'm curious about is where he got the doll," Kiyoshi was stifling his own laughter but he was fairing much better with it than Koganei.

Takao had settled down to the occasional chuckle, "He borrowed it from his little sister, but there is an antique store where every teller knows his name, and not all of them watch basketball."

"Can I ask a question about him?" Furihata requested, in awe of the shooting guard's talent showing itself in the practice match. He was giving Kagami and Hyuuga a work out in trying to stop him while making their own shots, the real saving grace for Kagami's side was Izuki's eagle eye. With his talent he could predict a good portion of the opposition's movements, it was just a matter of getting to the right place to counteract them.

"Sure but I might not be able to answer if I want to keep breathing," Takao agreed with his eyes sparkling in amusement. He did enjoy pushing Midorima's buttons, his reactions were worth the risk.

"Why does he tape his fingers?" He had watched Midorima hastily unwrap them before he started playing. The move attracting Furihata's curiosity about the odd movement.

"Look at your hands," Takao ordered, all the listeners obeying not just Furihata. "What do you see?"

They all knew better than to just say hands, but Kiyoshi figured out where Takao was going with the order first, "Calluses. A basketball is rough, and it toughens our hands."

"Right," Takao approved. "Shin-chan tapes his hands all day, and when he practices, so his hands stay soft. It lets him feel the ball better making his shots more accurate. He practices with them taped to give him more of a challenge, if he can make the shots with his sense of touch hindered, he will be even more impressive during a game."

"I never thought of that, but it would work. Maybe we should try that for ourselves in practice. It would be a bit like the training camp where I used playing basketball in the sand to help you improve your movements." Riko analyzed. She could see the benefits of making them improve accuracy by taking away the feel of the ball. Takao was right, if you could make a play with your hands taped, you would be more accurate when you took the tape off.

She watched the game carefully to analyze Midorima's next super long shot, and now that she knew what to look for it wasn't hard to see Takao was right. He was releasing the ball at just the right time and angle to ensure it went in. That kind of reliability could only be achieved by someone who knew exactly how to adjust the ball to complete the shot. Having soft fingers that could truly feel how the ball was positioned would go a long way in helping Midorima do those crazily accurate long shots.

"There is one problem with Shin-chan's method." Takao warned, he was conscious of the fact Seirin could easily push themselves too far with trying out Midorima's method. "If the ball is rough enough to put calluses on your hands, imagine how it must feel to a person with no calluses at all?" He urged. "Shin-chan's finger tips have been worn down so badly he's bled from them at the slightest pressure after games. That kind of pain would be a detriment to a power forward or point guard where much more dribbling is required. I doubt their fingers would hold up till the end of the game like Shin-chan's usually do."

"That's dedication right there," Koganei realized, not alone in having a bit more respect for Midorima at the information.

"Of course," Takao scoffed, "He's extremely dedicated. All of Shutoku is aware of it, that's why we allow him his three selfish acts a day. He kind of earns them, even if when he goes a bit too far with his requests he is threatened with having a pineapple thrown at his head."

"A pineapple?" Riko asked in disbelief.

"Yep a pineapple," Takao repeated, dispelling her disbelief. "The father of one of our players owns a fruit stand. The rest always use that particular threat on him just because it's hard to tell if they are joking or not."

Looking back to the game Riko shook her head in resignation, "Are we really the only sane team with a Miracle on it?" Kuroko confirming his place in the Miracle's once again with another expertly executed steal from Izuki, redirecting it to Midorima who sank a three pointer before Kagami could stop him. This time Hyuuga got the rebound, him and Izuki running quickly down the court, the ball ending up with the point guard when in range of the basket, Izuki was able to make the shot. Midorima managing to grab the rebound away from Kagami who hadn't gotten to the hoop quit soon enough to jump higher than the taller shooting guard. The three came without Midorima moving, Mitobe standing under the net to capture the ball as it fell.

"Ah Riko, look around you, do you really think we are sane?" Kiyoshi pointed out, thinking of all the eccentric people on the team fondly.

Riko didn't have an answer to that, so she stayed silent. Kiyoshi chuckling at her stubbornness but otherwise didn't comment on it, but he did notice something about the game, "Hey Riko I think we need to call the match good enough, Kuroko is looking worn out." He advised.

Riko knew he was right, blowing her whistle to end the game, the final total 87 to 79 with Kuroko's side winning. Looking at Kuroko's sweat drenched body and gasping breaths she realized their shadow had pushed himself too hard again, and hadn't let her know. "Kuroko-kun do I have to keep telling you to let us know when you've been playing too much? How many times will you have to pass out on us before you realize we don't mind regrouping practice if it means you won't hurt yourself? I try to catch you at it, but it can be hard when you hide things from us." His misdirection definitely caused her no amount of stress when he used it to keep them from knowing he was nearing his limit. By the time they saw through the ruse it was already too late to keep him from overly straining himself.

Kuroko wouldn't answer her, refusing to argue knowing it would only give her more ammo to use against him. Midorima didn't have the same problem, "He won't listen to you." He warned. "Even Akashi had trouble with that trait of his in Teiko. Yes he could see through Kuroko's misdirection, but Kuroko was good at hiding why he was using it at that time from him and Aomine."

All eyes turned to Kuroko, seeing the tips of the shadow's ears had turned a little pink. Kagami spotted and couldn't stop the incredulous question, "Are you blushing Kuroko?"

"You're seeing things again Kagami-kun, maybe you should see someone about that," Kuroko replied perfectly calmly. If he was serious enough maybe he could keep everyone from believing Kagami.

This was not his lucky day, "You so totally are blushing, and you try to hide it just like Shin-chan." Takao earned himself a glare from the phantom player, to which he replied with a grin.

Seeing Kuroko's irritation when others might have missed it Midorima gave some advice, "If you want him to stop, get him on the court and put him through his paces. That's how our coach deals with him."

"That was mean Shin-chan, they don't have to do that as often to me as they feel the urge to threaten you with flying produce." Takao shot back, he wouldn't let Midorima get away with his comment without doing something to tease his friend right back.

"Are you saying you don't want to play?" Midorima responded, voice challenging as he did his best to ignore what Takao said about him.

Takao hid a laugh at Midorima's attempt at deflection, but he let it go knowing he was pushing the limit of Midorima's control before he got physical in his reprimands. "I never said I wouldn't play," He reminded, "I just meant that no one has to make me."

Midorima could do nothing but shake his head at his teammate's antics.

"Well if everyone is ready to hit the court again, let's change up the teams a bit," Riko decided. "Takao-kun, I'm putting you in, how about you play with Midorima-kun and Koganei-kun. Kagami you're up again, let's try it with Furihata-kun and Teppei."

The assigned players went out on the court with a nod of assent. Riko looked at the puddle o' player Hyuuga, Izuki, and Mitobe had collapsed into when they had the chance. The bench feeling like a cloud to them as they were finally able to rest. Kuroko had already fallen asleep hidden behind the bench with his jacket under his head and Nigou curled up against him after the black and white puppy had nudged him a few times in worry.

Once she knew all of her boys would survive after the first game, she turned back to the ones out on the court, starting the game with a blast of her whistle.

The game progressed rapidly, the substitution of the four new players was changing the entire dynamic of the game. Kagami's side had better defense with Kiyoshi in it, and Furihata turned out to be pretty good at understand the plays he wanted to try. The frequency of stopping Midorima's shots increased, especially since the tall shooting guard was pretty much the only one on his side with a prayer of competing with Kiyoshi in the center position, the splitting of his focus made the contribution of Takao a necessity, their familiarity with each other a large advantage to the others who would have to take time getting used to Midorima's style.

This game Kagami's side finished in the lead, with a bit wider gap between them than the first match, ending up with 78-64. Kiyoshi's defense, and Takao's planning showing in the score. Without Takao and Midorima working so well together they wouldn't have managed as many points as they had. Koganei was able to help sometimes, but he had missed a couple shots during the game, making him a little unreliable as it came down to the wire. On Kagami's side Furihata proved he was capable of keeping up and his talent at knowing how the plays would work out had increased with necessity. He had the makings of a good point guard, Izuki promising to work with him more once the teams were back on the bench, even Takao gave him a pat on the back for his good work.

All in all it had been a good day of training. Riko setting the players that hadn't gotten court time out into the gym, where the starters and the visiting Shutoku players worked with them while they were still motivated from watching the exciting games. This plan of training together with the Miracles was already seeing results and that made Riko insanely happy while watching her boys interact and grow together as one.


End file.
